Anna is a young girl who doesn't act quite like her friends...or her parents...or quite like anyone, really. Anna grows up wondering what in the world is wrong with her. Nobody explains anything to her. People talk in front of her like she's not there. She gets looks when she does things that are just normal to her. This is a story told in entirely poetry of Anna, her struggles and victories, adventures and misadventures, passions and interests. While Anna feels alone...she's really just one of the many people who are neurodivergent- a more modern term for mentally ill, or disabled. "Ambush." was written for neurodivergent people, by a young neurodivergent teen who seeks to be properly represented in the media. "Ambush." seeks to break the trend of us neurodivergent people being seen as monsters, weirdos, disappointments, and useless to society. We exist, and we will be heard! Anna was raised where people didn't know about neurodivergence. Anna wasn't treated properly, no one would listen to her and nothing was explained to her, so her mental health suffered even more. We need to talk more about mental illness. Anna is by all rights, a wonderful person, and so is every neurodivergent person, but society teaches us that we are wrong, gross, and shouldn't exist. I want to work towards stopping that trend. By writing "Ambush.", I wanted to provide a character that was easy to relate to. I wanted to write about things that some neurodivergent people go through. I wanted to do something to help end the stigma. I know my little poetry book about a neurodivergent girl probably won't do a lot, but I hope it does something. Thanks for being here and reading!

In the far future, genetic engineering is used to strip all sapient species of disability. But when humans have a brief fad of natural birth, disabled children start reappearing. They're quickly termed "Pandoras," the value of their very lives brought into question, and laws are put into place to prevent their births from happening ever again. Xandri Corelel is one of these Pandoras, a young autistic woman scorned by her family and fighting to eke out a living on the streets of Wraith. Then she meets Chui Shan Fung, captain of the first contact and refugee ship Carpathia. Captain Chui has been watching her, and knows about the talent for understanding alien species that Xandri has cultivated. She wants Xandri as part of her crew--but first, Xandri must pass a test to see if she'll even fit in. Wary but hopeful, Xandri joins the Carpathia at Psittaca, a newly-discovered planet peopled by parrot-like sapients. Learning to understand this new species is the easy part compared to trusting her new crew mates. As Xandri continues her diplomatic efforts with the Psittacans, it becomes apparent that the Carpathia's crew aren't the only ones to have discovered the planet, but these other visitors don't have good intentions. In order to protect this beautiful new world, Xandri must find it in herself to overcome years of abuse and neglect, and trust in her new crew.